11/27/2007 10:37:42 PM

Hi all,

I'm using SSP 5.5 and am trying to play mpg video clips through the program.  When I try to launch a clip by double clicking on it, it doesn't play and the alerts dialog tell me it can't open a player.  The manual shows a video editor of some kind should come up when I do this.

I've been able to select a clip by single clicking it, then use "edit" menu function and have it spawn an ATI media player of some kind, but it doesn't display on the second screen, and I can't drag it over.

Is there some menu item or .ini file I can edit to tell the program to NOT launch the ATI player, but use the default program editor?  Better yet, I'd like to be able to have it use the free LVI Video player I recently installed.  The LVI program plays DVDs and video clips with no issues, and I can drag it over to the second screen.

I'm concerned the program may be corrupted.  I inherited the system when I signed on 2 months ago at this church as Worship Leader/Light & stage guy/Sound system guy/ IT guy!  SSP does okay for displaying words, but I'd really like to kick it up a couple of notches.  Video clips and motion backgrouds would be great.  DVDs would be awesome!

Thanks!  Tom

11/28/2007 6:36:05 AM

What DVD player software installed? The MPGs use the codec from the DVD player. SSP 5.5 supported mostly WinDVD.

If you want to kick it up several notches,  you gotta take a look at SSP v7. The improvements there have been and continue to be substantial.

11/28/2007 7:37:15 AM

Thanks Joel,

Well, as far as I could tell, there was no DVD software installed.  I upgraded recently WMP to the latest version, but it doesn't have the codecs to play DVDs.  That's why I looked for and found the open source player and installed it.  It seems to work fine on mpg clips and DVDs, but I can't find where I could "hook" it into SSP as the default video player/editor.  I'm guessing the ATI player that comes up when I try to edit a clip was part of the software for the 128 MB video card in the machine.

My Sanctuary computer is like a 4 year old rental car that everybody and their brother has driven HARD.  I've cleaned it up and upgraded as much as possible, but short of a re-format and total program load there's not much I can do.  Of course, all the software for it has fallen into "black hole" years ago .  I do have the CD for SSP, but the upgrade that I have was probably downloaded.  Unfortunately, the subscription lapsed 3 years ago, so I probably can't replace what I have.  The utility in SSP tells me I have adequate hardware to run advanced graphics functions and have enabled that.

I spoke with Brian in SSP sales a couple of days ago about upgrading.  He felt that my system was okay for 5.5, but an upgrade would require a new system.  Like many small churches, I have no budget.  So, upgrades and new machines are out of the question.

This is what fuels my quest to get more life out of what I have.  If I have to settle for words over a static background for now, then so be it.  I just wanted to exhaust all the possibilities before throwing in the towel.

Thanks, Tom

11/28/2007 8:52:16 AM

Have you tried AVI or WMV background loops?

You could also look at SSPs built in visualizations, if you're looking for something more abstract. They are very adjustable.

11/28/2007 8:56:32 AM

A simple solution to playing MPGs might be to go over to eBay and look for somone selling a WinDVD version 4 CD and license. We used v4 with SSP 5.5 and it worked quite well and can generally be picked up very cheaply.

11/28/2007 9:26:18 AM

Thanks Joel,

I'll look into those ideas.

Tom

11/28/2007 10:04:37 AM

If AVI and/or WMVs work, you should be able to convert the MPGs to that format.

I think I've used Windows Movie Maker to convert MPG to WMV.

12/7/2007 5:25:40 PM

In case anyone else runs into the problem, here is what solved my issues.

I upgraded to a version of 5.5 that was slightly newer than what I had.  The "refreshing" of the program files and ProModules gave me motion backgrounds, transitions, countdowns, and mpeg videos that actually play through SSP 

I'm looking forward to treating the congregation to something besides static backgrounds!